Titans named as ideal trade target for San Francisco 49ers RB Raheem Mostert

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What is the cost and is it worth it?

The thing is, the cost is probably going to be nothing for the team that trades for Raheem Mostert.

Again, you have to think about the boom or bust potential of Mostert and if he is either going to be what he was last year or he is going to be Dion Lewis, you aren’t going to get many takers.

I would guess that the league views him as a 28-year-old RB2, who is going to want a new contract immediately, but whose versatility could help an offense. That means that the market is essentially playoff teams with one or two weapons in place, in need of a boost or security.

That limits the market to the Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Steelers, Tennessee Titans, Minnesota Vikings, Tampa Bay Bucs, and L.A. Rams.

Assuming they don’t want to strengthen other NFC teams, that leaves just the Titans, Bills and Steelers and the Steelers don’t have a lot of cap space as it is. So at that point, the competition is the Titans and the Bills that you might get away with trading a 6th or a 7th for him.

Is a 7th round pick and a 2-year, $11 million deal (with $5 million fully GTD for 2020 and $1 million GTD in 2021 with $5 million available if the Titans cut him after 2020) worth a trade? Potentially, but there is a right way to go about it and you have to be very careful.

What I think you have to do is you have to first agree to a new deal with Derrick Henry for something along the lines of 5-year, $71.35 million deal (shoutout Luke Worsham).

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With the deadline for new deals less than a week away, the clock is ticking for a deal to get done at all, much less a massive deal like this. However, if it does get done it would give the Titans a huge leg up on evaluating the future of the franchise.

At that point you can really evaluate Evans vs Mostert as a serious backup plan for Henry, likely ending with Mostert getting cut.

You get the one year boost of Mostert in this offense with the option to keep him, but in the meantime, you don’t have to blindly trust a rookie RB that the coaching staff STILL hasn’t had a chance to see.

Down the line, you can evaluate Henry’s contract and discuss options but for the next two years you get:

2020: Henry, Mostert, Evans (combined cost ~$19.8 million)

2021: Henry, Evans (combined cost ~$14.8 million)

If you can stomach the cost of a new deal for Derrick Henry then the Mostert deal makes sense, but if not then you can’t risk making Henry mad before a crucial season where he also plans on leaving the team after the season.

So a tentative “yes” on the potential trade, contingent on it being done in the right way.

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